Not spoken a word on supporting Maoist movement: Shibu Soren

“Who am I to say? Am I a magistrate?” Soren told reporters here when asked to comment on whether the Maoist movement was right or not.

Speaking in support of Soren,JMM leader and Jharkhand Health Minister Hemlal Murmu said,”I was present at the Kolkata Press Club too. Baba (Soren) had said that he supported people’s movement,but not those engaged in killings. But things got confused because of media queries in English and Bengali.”

Murmu also accused the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal of unleashing untold atrocities on the tribals,minorities and backward class people by engaging “Harmad Vahini”.

“Poor tribals,who have become the target of Harmad Vahini and operation ‘Green Hunt’,have found themselves between the devil and the deep sea,” he said.

The JMM,he added,had never said there were no Maoists in those areas,but always innocent people fall as victims.

“We have met West Bengal governor and apprised him of innocent tribals losing their lives there. We have demanded Rs 10 lakh to the families of each victim,eight lakh to those who have lost limbs and five lakh to other injured,” Murmu said and added the governor had asked JMM to provide a list of the dead to take up the issue.

The JMM leadership,however,refused to be in the same bracket with Trinamool Congress.

“Why should we talk to them? We are not with anyone,” he said when asked whether they would talk to Trinamool Congress on the ‘Harmad Vahini’.

Murmu also dismissed as “baseless” reports by the Opposition that Soren was enjoying an office of profit despite being a member of the Lok Sabha.

“Guruji (Soren) is not making any profit from his post of Chairperson of the Jharkhand State Coordination Committee (JSCC). We have discussed it properly and taken opinion from the legal department before appointing him to the post,” he said.